2015 Black Bear Season Harvest Information

The 2015 Black Bear Hunting Season, held December 7-12 and 16-19, 2015, resulted in a total legal harvest of 510 black bears. The season was held concurrently with the 6-Day Firearm Deer Season, and then extended four days the following week. Zone 5 was opened to hunting in 2015, extending the hunting area south of Rt. I-78 and east of Rt. I-287 (see map).

Hunters were required to check all harvested bears at check stations staffed by Division of Fish and Wildlife personnel. Data, including sex, weight and size were collected, and a tooth was extracted for aging by Matson's Lab, a wildlife laboratory offering cementum (tooth) aging.

The document linked below provides sex, age and class information on harvested bears. The bears are listed according to the number on the Possession Seal attached to each bear's ear at the check station. The seal numbers are listed numerically. Tooth ages marked N/A are the result of the lab being unable to determine an exact age due to various reasons:
2015 Black Bear Harvest Data(pdf, 105kb)